How is a community tennis club upgraded while members keep playing?

A community tennis club runs on a timetable that is busier than it looks. Weekday coaching, school groups, night competition, weekend fixtures and social play can fill most of the week.

An upgrade has to fit around that, or the club loses members and the coaches lose income while the work goes on.

The club's calendar is the first input

Before any staging is drawn up, the club's year is mapped out with the committee, showing when the competition season runs, when coaching is at its busiest, which nights are fixed for night competition and which weeks are quiet enough to lose courts.

The heaviest work is placed in the quietest part of the year. The rest is staged so the club always has courts and facilities it can use.

Working court by court

Where the upgrade includes court works, the courts are usually split into groups. One group is closed and fenced off while the others stay in play.

The fence has to stop balls and people as well as mark the boundary. Players chasing a ball into a work zone is the risk to plan for, so the separation is solid rather than a line of tape.

Access to the open courts is kept clear and signed. Where the work changes the normal path from the car park or clubhouse, a new route is set up and marked before the old one closes.

More on running sports courts in public spaces is in sports courts built in parks that stay open.

The clubhouse and amenities

Many clubs share one small clubhouse with toilets, a kitchen and a meeting space. If that building is part of the upgrade, the club still needs toilets and somewhere to run the desk.

Temporary facilities are set up before the clubhouse closes, or the work inside is split so part of it stays in use.

Lighting and night play

Night competition is often the club's main income, which makes the lights critical. Work on light poles, cabling or switchboards is timed so night play is not lost in the busy part of the season.

How sports lighting projects are planned is covered in sports field floodlighting.

The park around the club

Most community tennis clubs sit inside a public park. That means the work zone, deliveries and parking have to suit the people using the park as well as the club.

Monument delivers works inside live parks and reserves for councils, with the open areas staying usable while construction is fenced off. The approach is set out in how to keep a public park open during construction.

Coleman Park, Bankstown

Monument delivered the Coleman Park Tennis Club upgrade at Bankstown for the City of Canterbury Bankstown. It sits within a long relationship with the council, which dates back to Monument's first council panel win in 2012.

Our capability